Former world chess champion Vladimir Kramnik has hailed Grandmaster P. Iniyan for his stupendous fund-raising effort to fight COVID-19 pandemic.
Kramnik, in a video message, praised the 17-year-old by saying, “I thank Iniyan for his efforts. It doesn’t actually matter how much money you manage to raise. I think it’s a very good initiative and a very important example, for everyone.”
Between May 15 and 18, Iniyan’s online ‘chess marathon’ generated more than Rs. 1.20 lakh. Incredibly, the youngster played 271 opponents spread over 74 hours.
Kramnik went on to say, “We organized a similar charity event, in Russia, and managed to collect quite a serious amount of money for various hospitals.
“With pandemic all over the world, it is also a harsh but very useful reminder to all of us of some core values which we, in my opinion, forgot a bit, lately - that we are all human beings, we are all one unit in this world and we should be trying to be less individualistic. Maybe, we should pay less attention to consumption and try to help each other especially in these difficult times.”
The only player to beat legendary Garry Kasparov in a World championship match, Kramnik concluded with a note of compassion.
“Of course, every person has different possibilities, different financial situation, but I think we should do what we can, in order to help each other, to help people who are in danger now, especially doctors, and patients, unfortunate enough to get the virus. Maybe, that's the only way for us to overcome this crisis.”
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